Orbán-Michel meeting: 'EU unity requires constant effort'

On Monday morning, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán received Charles Michel at the former Carmelite Monastery in Buda Castle, the Deputy State Secretary in charge of the Prime Minister's Press Office told Hungarian Press Agency MTI. According to Bertalan Havasi's statement, Orbán's meeting with the President of the European Council was focused on preparations for the December EU summit. János Bóka, Minister for European Union Affairs, was also in attendance.

"EU unity requires constant effort and it's our main strength," Charles Michel posted about the meeting on X (former Twitter).

Politico: Orbán's letter is behind the meeting

As previously reported based on Politico, Orbán sent a letter to Michel a few days ago, in which the Hungarian PM threatened to derail talks on Ukraine if EU leaders do not begin a strategic discussion on their policy towards the eastern candidate country. Orbán considered the talks urgent given the current situation of the war between Russia and Ukraine, and, according to Politico, he wrote that without a strategic discussion on their joint policy on the matter, there can be no decision on opening accession talks with Ukraine, financial support for the country or further sanctions against Russia. These issues are all expected to be decided on unanimously by the leaders of the Member States at their summit on 14-15 December, i.e. any head of state or government can use a veto.

According to Politico, Orbán is fueling tensions over the funding which is still blocked from Hungary over rule of law concerns. Althouth after the European Commission approved several member states' revised recovery plans (including Hungary) it thus opened a shortcut for an advance of nearly a billion euros.

Orbán has previously admitted that linking Hungarian and Ukrainian funds would equal to teetering on the edge of EU law. On another occasion, he admitted that the budget increase, which includes a continuation of the financial support for Ukraine and which is due to expire this year, "requires unanimity. And then you have to hold out the bag and that's it. That's how you do it. Like this. That's the plan." But in mid-November János Bóka said that they had clearly stated that there was no link with the funding of Ukraine, there never had been, and he refused to allow anyone to connect the two. (He had earlier cryptically commented that "the polical context requires a bit more work.")

In November, Bóka said that "we are not pressured by time" on the subject, because in principle, member states and the European Parliament had reached a deal on the 2024 budget. He sees this as a way to keep the EU functioning, so they have time, and Ukraine should be supported outside the common budget by international financial institutions and other stakeholders as well.

Decision on Ukrainian accession talks nearing, concessions on language use

As previously reported, in November, the European Commission proposed to formally open accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. However, member states will only adopt their negotiating framework (i.e. their own position on the basis of which the European Commission can in practice negotiate with Ukraine) once the candidate country has completed its ongoing reforms. The European Commission will report on this next March.

The EU had previously expected action from Ukraine in seven areas, including minority rights. The Commission President said that "well over 90 percent" of the requirements had been met. The detailed report considers four out of the seven areas to be fully closed, but the protection of minorities, the fight against corruption and the measures against oligarchs are not. It was just a few days ago that Ukraine announced that it would restore language rights for minorities using one of the EU's official languages, which includes Hungarian.